The mensa-tex class

https://github.com/SFr682k/mensa-tex

Sebastian Friedl
sfr682k@t-online.de

2017/12/03

“I can’t go to a restaurant and order food

because I keep looking at the fonts on the menu”
— DONALD E. KNUTH —

Abstract
A LATEX class for typesetting school cafeteria menus consisting of two lunches (with
dessert) and dinner

Contents
Dependencies and other requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Call for cooperation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1 Using the \documentclass command 3

2 Creating a menu 3
2.1 Setting up the basic information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2 Adding food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3 Adding additional information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3.1 Remarks at the bottom of the page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3.2 Remarks for additive ingredients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3.3 Symbols for vegetarian and vegan food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.4 Using fancy colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.4.1 Changing colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.4.2 A short note about color selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.4.3 Using class–defined colors in normal text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

3 How to add support for other languages 6

3.1 Weekday names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.2 Keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.3 Date formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

4 A working example 9
Dependencies and other requirements
The mensa-tex class requires LATEX 2" and the following packages:

array datetime2-calc lmodern

colortbl geometry textcomp
datetime2 graphicx xcolor

License
© 2017 Sebastian Friedl
This work may be distributed and/or modified under the conditions of the LATEX Project Public
License, either version 1.3c of this license or (at your option) any later version.
The latest version of this license is available at http://www.latex-project.org/lppl.txt
and version 1.3c or later is part of all distributions of LATEX version 2008-05-04 or later.
This work has the LPPL maintenance status ‘maintained’. The current maintainer of this work is
Sebastian Friedl.
This work consists of the following files:
• mensa-tex.cls,
• mensa-tex-doc.tex and
• mensa-tex-example.tex

Call for cooperation

Please report bugs and other problems as well as suggestions for improvements by using
the issue tracker on GitHub or sending an email to sfr682k@t-online.de.

2
 1 Using the \documentclass command
Using this class is as easy as using the \documentclass{mensa-tex} command.

Following class options are available:

app Use a layout optimized for small screens using DIN/ISO A6 paper

en-GB Use an English localization, British variant (default)

en-US Use an English localization, American variant

german Use a German localization

2 Creating a menu
This section deals with creating a menu using mensa-tex.
All the commands described in this section are to be used inside the preamble since the
menu gets created instantly when using \begin{document}.

2.1 Setting up the basic information

The basic information consists of the name of the cafeteria, the institute (or school) it is
located at and the image used on the single pages.
It can be set by using the following commands:
\mensaname This command is used to declare the name of the cafeteria – maybe something like
\mensaname{Food Corner} (default is the plain old boring “Mensa”).
You may want to change the font size by using arbitrary LATEX font size commands.
\institute Sets the name of the institute the cafeteria is located at – for example, you can insert
\institute{University of LOL} in your preamble if your cafeteria is located at
some institute called the “University of LOL”.
Note that information about the institute is only printed when using the normal layout.
\setimage Add an image to your diet plans using this command.
Note that you have to declare the image by using \includegraphics inside \setimage
(e. g. \setimage{\includegraphics[width=8cm]{path/to/picture}}).
The space available for the image depends on the used layout (see table 1).

normal layout app layout

.50\textwidth .58\textwidth
width
≈ 9.0cm ≈ 4.9cm
.15\textheight .15\textheight
height
≈ 4.0cm ≈ 1.9cm

Table 1: Available space for the header image

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 2.2 Adding food
For adding information about the food, the commands described in this subsection are
provided.
\startdate This commands defines the “start date”, the date of the first entry (the start date’s weekday
mostly happens to be a Monday). The start date has to be present in YYYY-MM-DD format,
e. g. \startdate{2007-01-01} (Default is 2001-01-01).
\monday Use these five commands to insert food into the empty diet.
\tuesday Every single command requires the same four arguments:
\wednesday
\thursday 1. Menu I 2. Menu II 3. Dessert 4. Dinner
\friday
For example, to obtain Monday’s menu consisting of

Menu I: Fish and chips Dessert: Chocolate fudge

Menu II: Crispy fried chicken Dinner: DIY hamburgers

you have to write

\monday{Fish and chips}% <-- % is required when
{Crispy fried chicken}% commands are continued
{Chocolate fudge}% in the following line
{DIY hamburgers}
It is possible to insert the command listed above without line breaks, however, doing so
will result in the source being less human-readable.
Due to the menu being implemented in a tabular environment, you have to use
\linebreak instead of \\ to produce additional lines.
Possible, additional hyphenations not found by LATEX can be marked by manually inserting
discretionary hyphens (\-) (e. g. hyphen\-ation).

2.3 Adding additional information

2.3.1 Remarks at the bottom of the page
Some people may want to insert some remarks or annotations at the bottom of the page.
These remarks are defined using two commands, depending on the used layout.
\longremarks This command defines the remarks used for the normal layout.
They may be quite short (like \longremarks{Try it!}) or very, very long.
\shortremarks This command defines the remarks used for the app–Layout
Maybe, you should reduce the font size by inserting arbitrary LATEX font size commands
(e. g. \shortremarks{\footnotesize Now using a smaller font size})

2.3.2 Remarks for additive ingredients

When food contains additive ingredients, these additive ingredients are usually indicated
by adding superscript figures.
You have to insert the legend manually by using remarks (see section 2.3.1).

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 \sup This command is a shortcut providing access to the \textsuperscript command.
It can be used to produce a superscript 4 with \sup{4}.

2.3.3 Symbols for vegetarian and vegan food

Due to the recent development I decided to declare symbols for labeling vegetarian and
vegan food.
However, you have to insert the legend manually by using remarks (see section 2.3.1).
\vgt Produces a symbol consisting of one green leaf (l) for labeling vegetarian food
\vgn Produces a symbol consisting of two green leaves (ll) for labeling vegan food
Since the leaf symbol is obtained by loading the textcomp package and using the
{\rmfamily\textleaf} command, please avoid packages loading another roman
font not supporting this symbol. This should not be a big limitation since the class only
uses sans–serif fonts.
Otherwise, \vgt and \vgn have to be redefined.

2.4 Using fancy colors

To avoid a very boring look of the menu, some parts can be highlighted by using colors.
The class defines three colors: one for the background of certain boxes, another one for
the text inside these boxes and a third one for structure text.

2.4.1 Changing colors

Colors can be changed globally by using three commands. The colors themselves are de-
scribed using the normal syntax of the xcolor package.
\setbgcolor Changes the background color of certain boxes (e. g. \setbgcolor{blue})
\setcolorfg Changes the color of text inside these colored boxes (e. g. \setcolorfg{white})
\setctextcolor Changes the color of structure text (e. g. \setctextcolor{red})

2.4.2 A short note about color selection

Please ensure, that the colors set with \setbgcolor and \setcolorfg are distinctive
enough from each other. \setbgcolor{black} and \setcolorfg{black!85} are
usually a very, very bad choice when being used together.
Also, a clear difference between \setctextcolor and the background of the sheet of
paper is recommended.

2.4.3 Using class–defined colors in normal text

The colors defined with \setbgcolor, \setcolorfg and \setctextcolor can be
used with \color and other color commands.
The corresponding defined colors are called \bgcolor, \colorfg and \ctextcolor.
Examples: \color{\bgcolor}, \color{\colorfg} and \color{\ctextcolor}

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 en-GB en-US german
\menuname Menu Menü
\dessertname Dessert Dessert
\dinnername Dinner Abendessen
\dietname Weekly menu Speiseplan vom
\shortdate 18/09/17 09/18/17 18.09.
\dowshortdate Monday, 18/09/17 Monday, 09/18/17 Montag, 18.09.17
\longdate 18/09/2017 09/18/2017 18.09.2017
\daterange 18/09/17 – 22/09/17 09/18/17 – 09/22/17 18.09. – 22.09.2017

Table 2: Examples for natively supported localizations

3 How to add support for other languages

Currently, the class natively supports English (GB/US) and German.
However, with the instructions in this section, you are able to define additional localiza-
tions yourself.
It is recommended to select the localization closest to your localization by using the class
options described in section 1 before redefining commands (see the examples in table 2).
Code described in this section is to be placed before the \begin{document} command.
Only redefine commands when necessary.

3.1 Weekday names

Weekday names are stored in the \wdayname and \swdayname commands.
To modify them, copy the code printed below into your preamble and replace the English
weekday names (and their abbreviations) with the appropriate form of your localization
(but leave the %s untouched)
% Weekday names
\renewcommand{\wdayname}[1]{%
\ifcase\DTMfetchdow{#1}
Monday%
\or
Tuesday%
\or
Wednesday%
\or
Thursday%
\or
Friday%
\or
Saturday%
\or

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 Sunday%
\fi
}

% Short weekday names

\renewcommand{\swdayname}[1]{%
\ifcase\DTMfetchdow{#1}
Mon%
\or
Tue%
\or
Wed%
\or
Thu%
\or
Fri%
\or
Sat%
\or
Sun%
\fi
}

3.2 Keywords
There are four keywords stored in separate commands.
To modify them, copy the code printed below into your preamble and replace the English
words by vocabulary appropriate for your localization.
\def\menuname{Menu}
\def\dessertname{Dessert}
\def\dinnername{Dinner}
\def\dietname{Weekly menu}

3.3 Date formats

This part is probably the most complicated one when defining own localizations.
Basically, there are four commands that may be redefined:

• \shortdate
The short form of the date (e. g. 10/11)

• \dowshortdate
The short form of the date, including the weekday (e. g. Sat., 10/11)

• \longdate
The long form of the date (e. g. 10/11/2012)

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 • \daterange
A range between two dates (e. g. 10/11–14/11/2012)

When redefining these commands, you have to assemble the templates available for day,
month and year in an order matching the localization.

Date templates
DD \DTMtwodigits{\DTMfetchday{#1}}
Prints the day using two digits
If the day consists of only one digit, a zero is inserted (e. g. 01 instead of 1)

D \DTMfetchday{#1}
Prints the day using one or two digits

Month templates
MM \DTMtwodigits{\DTMfetchmonth{#1}}
Prints the month using two digits

M \DTMfetchmonth{#1}
Prints the month using one or two digits

Year templates
YYYY \DTMfetchyear{#1}
Prints the year using as many digits as required

YY \DTMtwodigits{\DTMfetchyear{#1}}
Prints the year using two digits

Inserting weekday names

“normal” weekday names: \wdayname{#1}
short weekday names: \swdayname{#1}

Redefining commands using templates

Now, you only have to redefine the commands. Use the following basic structure:
\renewcommand{ %% COMMAND %% }[1]{%
%% INSERT THE TEMPLATE COMBINATIONS HERE %%
}

The templates listed above can be combined suitable.

For example, if you want the long date to be displayed in the YYYY-MM-DD format, the fol-
lowing code does the trick:
\renewcommand{\longdate}[1]{%

8
 \DTMfetchyear{#1}% The YYYY template
-% Year/month separator
\DTMtwodigits{\DTMfetchmonth{#1}}% The MM template
-% Month/day separator
\DTMtwodigits{\DTMfetchday{#1}}% The DD template
}
The same principle applies to redefinitions of \shortdate and \dowshortdate.
The %s avoid spaces after templates and separators when inserting line breaks.
If you have already redefined \shortdate and \longdate, you may reuse these defini-
tions when redefining \dowshortdate, for example:
\renewcommand{\dowshortdate}[1]{%
\wdayname{#1}% Insert the weekday
,~% Weekday/day seperator (~ = space)
\shortdate{#1}% Use the short date template
}

Redefining the \daterange command is special since it requires two arguments.

Here, you have to use …

• #1 for commands and templates referring to the start date and

• #2 for commands and templates referring to the end date

For example, a working redefinition of \daterange can be achieved with this code:
\renewcommand{\daterange}[2]{% <-- »[2]« instead of »[1]«!!
\shortdate{#1}% Start date
\,--\,% Seperator: -- with spaces
\shortdate{#2}% End date: #2 inst. of #1
}

4 A working example
\documentclass[en-US]{mensa-tex}

\usepackage[american]{babel}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

\setbgcolor{blue}
\setcolorfg{white}
\setctextcolor{red}

\institute{Some university far, far away}

\mensaname{Café}

\setimage{\includegraphics[height=.125\textheight]{cafe-logo}}

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\startdate{2017-09-18}

\monday{Scrambled Eggs \linebreak\vgt}%

{Curry Potato Salad with Peas, Mint \& Red Onion \linebreak\vgn}%
{Ice Cream}%
{Turkey Burger}

\tuesday{Philly Cheese Steak\sup{1)}}%

{Sesame Noodles \linebreak\vgn}%
{Donuts}%
{Orzo Pasta}

\wednesday{-/-}{-/-}{-/-}{-/-}

\thursday{Buffalo Wings}%
{Vegetarian Eggrolls \linebreak\vgt}%
{Sacher Cake}%
{Chicken Tortilla}

\friday{Pastrami Melt}%
{Grilled Cheese \linebreak\vgt}%
{Tiramisu}%
{Salmon Burger}

\longremarks{%
{\color{\ctextcolor}
Due to a training course of our staff, the café is closed
on Wednesday, 09/20/17.}

\medskip
In our efforts to sustain a seasonal menu, sometimes
substitutions may be required, and menu items may change
without notice.

\bigskip
\textbf{Key:} \quad
\vgt: vegetarian \quad
\vgn: vegan \quad
\sup{1)}: spicy
}

\begin{document}
\end{document}

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Output:

Some university far, far away

Café
Weekly menu
09/18/17 – 09/22/17

Menu 1 Menu 2 Dessert Dinner

Curry Potato Salad with

Scrambled Eggs Turkey
Mon Peas, Mint & Red Onion Ice Cream
l Burger
ll

Sesame Noodles
Tue Philly Cheese Steak1) Donuts Orzo Pasta
ll

Wed -/- -/- -/- -/-

Vegetarian Eggrolls Chicken

Thu Buffalo Wings Sacher Cake
l Tortilla

Grilled Cheese Salmon

Fri Pastrami Melt Tiramisu
l Burger

Due to a training course of our staff, the café is closed on Wednesday, 09/20/17.
In our efforts to sustain a seasonal menu, sometimes substitutions may be required, and menu items may
change without notice.

Key: l: vegetarian ll: vegan 1)

: spicy

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